Wednesday, May 25, 2022

 Indulging In Port-Style wines



Barbara and I are happy to say our first outdoor tasting experience of 2022 was a success. We decided to do a port tasting. Now fortified wines in Canada may not be called Port.

Canada reached an agreement with Europe and Portugal. Only wine produced in the Douro region of Portugal may be called Port or Porto. (Canadian producers, under CEWSA Article 12(1), will cease using geographic indications (GIs) Chablis, Champagne, Port, Porto and Sherry effective December 31, 2013.)

Port is a fortified wine. Fortified wines are made by adding a proportion of grape spirit, or brandy, to the wine at some point during the production process. Port is arguably the greatest of all fortified wines and its paramount expression, Vintage Port, ranks alongside the finest produce of Bordeaux or Burgundy as one of the great iconic wines of the world.



We invited six guests to join us for the experience. It was a beautiful day and we gathered in the backyard to relax and enjoy some good wines.

We offered everyone a choice of wine while waiting for everyone to arrive. We had Malbec from Argentina, Syrah from Spain, Pinot Noir from Blue Grouse in British Columbia and a white Pinot Gris also from Blue Grouse.

Once everyone arrived we brought out the appetizers ranging from various worldwide cheeses to Olives, figs, pate and Chocolate Treats.



Our first selection was from Glass House winery called Festa. It featured nice notes of Blackberry, raspberry, chocolate and Caramel.


Our second selection was a wine from Backyard Vineyard, on the label it says " Sit Back,Relax and Enjoy" they hit the nail on the head for we were doing exactly that..with some nice pop tunes playing in the background. The wine featured notes of cherry and hints of spice on the mouth Blueberry and Cranberries


Up next was the offering from Chaberton called Tribute 2017 Nice! Slightly sweeter than the previous wines..featuring Strawberry and raspberry flavours.


So far everyone was quite pleased with our selections. Not everyone had the same favourite. Everyone did say they would happily purchase any of these port-style wines.


Last we went for the highest alc % at 20.1 the 2015 Rouge from Skaha Vineyards. A powerful offering a 100% Merlot fortified with dessert wine aged 24 months in French Oak. Flavours of Butterscotch, Raisin and Almonds leapt on the palette. The chocolate treats quickly disappeared as we sipped on this wine.


As the day began to cool off we ventured inside to a lasagna dinner.


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